Narayan AmmachchiU.S. healthcare firm Anthem Inc. has unveiled plans to set up an information technology center in Atlanta, promising to create as many as 1,800 IT-related jobs over the next six years.
The tech center will develop apps and other platforms for customers to figure out the best health plans and connect with care providers.
To begin with, the company will invest $20 million, but that will grow gradually over the next few years.
Anthem has chosen the premises of Bank of America Plaza in midtown Atlanta for setting up its center, because it can operate it in collaboration with its Innovation Studio in Atlanta’s Tech Square.
The investment will likely make Anthem eligible for the state incentive package valued at more than $50 million, according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
To be eligible for credits, Anthem needs to create at least 1,800 jobs and spend more than $450 million. Much of this incentive will come in the form of tax credits, and the state will also grant about $3 million in recognition of hundreds of jobs the company creates for local residents.
“For more than 75 years, Anthem companies have invested in the Georgia workforce. Atlanta has become known as an innovation hotbed, with research facilities, incubators, and start-ups in a highly concentrated area,” said Tom Miller, senior vice president and chief information officer at Anthem.
IT investment is growing in Georgia, with state officials attributing the rise in investments to the state’s high quality of life and low cost of living.
As many as three major Fortune 500 companies have established IT and innovation centers in the city this year alone, according to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
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